


Popcorn and Pickup Lines - A Mackelena Meet Cute AU

by Jemannesimms



Category: Agents of SHIELD - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff on top of more fluff, Implied Bi!Daisy, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-21 23:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15569031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemannesimms/pseuds/Jemannesimms
Summary: When Elena is stood up for a date at the carnival, she doesn't expect to have a good time. When the popcorn line gets held up, she definitely doesn't expect that one heckling comment could lead to her having a much better time than she had ever thought she would.A Meet Cute AU for Heeeymackelena for the AoS ficnet exchange :p





	Popcorn and Pickup Lines - A Mackelena Meet Cute AU

The one time Elena wears heels, and he doesn't even show.

Maybe it's her own fault, she thought, for wearing heels to a carnival, but to be fair, ‘Chaz’s’ profile picture looked pretty hot, and she never considered that a straight-laced seeming investment banker would bother to message her, setting up the date all himself, and then stand her up. She tried to ignore the disappointment crawling in her chest-he was nearly two hours late, and she had given up hope on him almost an hour ago, but she still wanted to have a good time while she was here. Carnival tickets? Not as cheap as they once were.

She also hadn't considered that she’d be standing in line for 30 minutes just for a bag of popcorn; for a solid 8 of those the line was totally unmoving, waiting for whoever was at the front taking their sweet time to order what Elena could only assume was 3 of everything on the menu, based on how long it was taking. Her added height at least let her see the perpetrators; a woman about her own age, with short, dark hair that could accurately be described as ‘bouncy’. Her companion, standing beside and behind her slightly, could easily be seen even without the heels. He towered over everyone else around him-and he also appeared to be the one holding up the line, based on the fact that the booth’s cashier was staring expectantly at him, and he appeared to be studying the menu intently.

God, there’s not that many things there to begin with, Elena groaned internally. She assumed many of the others waiting in line were thinking similarly, but it was clear that the man’s size was preventing any of them from speaking up about the delay. Maybe it was the added inch of confidence-or maybe it was because the more other people were afraid of something, the more Elena wanted to do it- but the next thing she knew, she had tilted out of the line, craning her neck to address the man.

“Speed it up, turtle man!” she yelled. Almost immediately, he turned his head. Elena made sure to keep eye contact with him, to show him she wasn't afraid of a fight. He didn't seem angry or thuggish in the slightest, though; he seemed confused, if anything. His expression was soft, but Elena kept on guard.

And then he turned all the way around.

Elena was braced for confrontation if necessary, but after he had fully turned it only took a moment for her line of sight to follow down to his hands: placed gently on the shoulders of a 9 year old girl with a strong resemblance, clearly his daughter.

Elena pursed her lips slightly. Embarrassment crawled up her spine as the man sighed and turned back toward the food stand. She could just imagine the thoughts of the people around her who had heard her taunt; What kind of person yells at a dad trying to feed his daughter? Sure, she hadn't known, but it still felt strange now to leave the situation the way she just did. As if to add insult to injury, the booth’s employees were now handing the trio their food, and they began to walk away.

With the same almost reflexive instinct as before, Elena left the line and sped after them to try and make some kind of amends.

“Ah-I'm sorry!” She blurted as she caught up. They stopped and turned around as she continued to stammer. “For saying that… I'm sorry.”

“Hi sorry, I'm Daisy,” the woman said, outstretching her hand to shake with a laugh. “And it's no problem-Mack is like...the slowest decision maker ever.”

“There were too many options!” Mack protested in response.

“There were like, 3 things on the menu!” Daisy said. “Tell him, Hope.”

“She’s right, dad,” Mack’s daughter said, also laughing.

“Well… What can I say?” He said, looking directly to Elena. “I know what I like.”

“Well...speaking of, I'm-I'm sorry for heckling you in the line,” Elena said, “and I’d be happy to pay for your food, if you want.” With this, she reached into her jacket pocket to pull out her wallet, but almost immediately, Mack reached his hand out to stop her.

“Really, there's no need-” he began but (for the second time today, she realized) Elena cut him off.

“Elena. And I insist.” She said, pulling a $20 out of her wallet, shoving it into his palm. Mack, with a sigh, retreated his hand in resignation and handed the money to Daisy.

“Fine, but in return, you have to do us a favor.” Daisy said as she stuffed the bill into the tiny front pocket of her skinny jeans. “Ride the Ferris wheel with us. We have like, a bajillion tickets still.”

Strange request, but not unwelcome-it's not like she had anything to do anymore.

“Ugh, again?” Mack asked, directed at Hope, mostly. “We’ve been on that 16 times today.” His disgust at riding a ride that many times seemed genuine, but so was his teasing smile.

“You just don't like it because I always ride with Daisy, and then you have to ride alone!” Hope laughed.

“Hence, Elena!” Daisy piped up.

Mack said nothing, just shook his head, embarrassed.

“I-I would love to join you guys, if you don't mind. Apparently I'm not busy,” Elena laughed, looking down at the ground.

She wasn't, and the three of them seemed nice. And she bought $30 worth of tickets herself, and she wasn't just going to let them go to waste-why not?

\----

“She's a sweet girl,” Elena said. The two of them were nearing the top of the wheel, peering ahead at the backs of Daisy and Hope’s heads, peering over the brightly colored wheel car ahead of them.

Mack laughed. “She keeps me busy,” he said. “Thank God I have Daisy around.”

“Is she your-” Elena began hesitantly, but Mack cut her off quickly.

“No-Daisy and I are just friends. She helps me out when I need it, I do the same. Besides, she doesn’t- well, she doesn’t usually shoot that way,” He chuckled.

“Ah-okay,” Elena echoed his knowing smile, leaning leaning forward in her seat a bit. The cart tilted downward, and Mack threw his arm in front of her to balance her.

“Woah, woah woah! Careful!” He said, and Elena laughed again. He clearly didn’t love this ride as much as his daughter. In response to her laugh, he grumbled something about ‘this machine being a deathtrap’. It was pretty cute.

The ride halted at the very top. The passengers at the bottom were disembarking. Elena could see below her that Daisy and Hope were already counting their tickets to take another ride. Looking over at Mack, she saw him trying (and mostly succeeding, to be fair,) to keep a grimace off his face.

“How good are you at winning carnival games?” She asked.

\----

“You hit something! That’s amazing!” Elena teased, patting Mack on the shoulder. He only grumbled in response, focusing intently on the plastic rifle in his hands and the Shoot-Em-Up game a few feet in front of him. Mack had easily won all the other games they’d tried before, with Elena as the proof: she was now wearing an oversized pair of neon green plastic glasses, with a stuffed zebra tucked under one arm and a voluptuous tutu around her waist, threatening to turn her into a human loofah. Stickers and fake tattoos overflowed from her purse, a gift for Hope, who was now with Daisy getting Cotton Candy. It had gone from 3PM to 6PM in almost no time at all. It was Elena and Mack’s job to get Hot Dogs for dinner once they had beaten this final game, but...that could take a while.

“Ah! Close, but no cigar!” The brightly-dressed carnival worker manning the booth said as the music cut off and the targets all flopped downward. “A dollar to play again?”

Mack sighed, finally accepting the loss gracefully. “No, no thank you.”

“You sure? How about you let the lady have a try?” The man insisted.

Mack and the attendant looked at Elena expectantly, with the same raised eyebrow look. She didn’t play carnival games, and she knew most of them were rigged anyway, but…

“Okay,” She said slowly. “Once.” She handed a dollar bill to the attendant and cooly grabbed the tiny BB-style gun. She leaned over a bit. Her pencil skirt was fairly long anyway, but she still adjusted it down a tad. She pressed her eye up to the gun’s focus. It was cheap-the lens was clearly plastic and clouding around the edges. Mack was hovering a bit behind her and she could sense his movements. It usually would annoy her to have someone standing this close when she was trying to pay attention, but she didn’t really mind this, she noticed.

The machine whirred to life and the targets popped up, starting one by one and then getting faster. With precision and marksmanship that surprised herself, Elena easily hit all but one.

“That’s a winner!” The carnival man said as Elena straightened again, badly hiding her smile. He handed her a purple tortoise beanbag, with a shiny shell and big black beads for eyes.

“That’s for you, Turtle-man,” She laughed as she turned to face Mack.

“Yeah, okay,” he said sarcastically, but he was smiling too.

\----

The pink and blue sunset had now faded into a dim brown. Stars were beginning to peak through the sky as it faded to black. A chill had cut into the air, and Elena’s jacket had migrated from her waist to her shoulders. Daisy and Hope were in Mack’s car, but the Mack and Elena lagged behind with shuffling feet, the way you do when you’re trying to elongate a goodbye.

“Thank you,” Elena said, tilting her head towards him. “This was...Much better than a date.” Mack threw his head back in laughter, and she smiled in gentle reply.

“It was Daisy who invited you,” he said.

“Yes, but it was you who couldn’t decide between an elephant ear and a churro,” she grinned.

“What kind of carnival doesn’t put cinnamon on their elephant ears? It’s just wrong!”

They both laughed again, and then fell silent. After another minute, they were a few feet from Elena’s car, parked there hours earlier in much, much different expectation. They stopped and turned towards the other. Elena glanced down at her shoes.

“Thanks to you, too,” Mack said. “I don’t usually enjoy carnivals.”  
“I can tell,” she nodded as she went to work at the tutu around her waist, untying it’s ribbon and passing the tulle-y mass to Mack, followed by the zebra, the glasses, and the remaining stickers and tattoos that Hope hadn’t already taken.

“You can keep those,” Mack said, pushing the latter back into her hands as he tucked the rest of his prizes under his other arm. “They’ll be around the house for months,” he chuckled nervously.

“Well, at least take this one,” Elena coyly smiled, pulling a pen out of her purse and scribbling on the back of a sticker shaped like a puppy sitting in a flower pot. She placed it into his hand, and, getting on her tiptoes (as much as was possible in 3-inch wedges, which was not much), softly pecked his cheek.

“Call me, Turtle-man.” She said. Without another word, she turned and walked to her car.

Sitting down, she crumpled back into the seat, exhaling a sigh of exhaustion. Something in her pocket pressed into her side. The beanbag.

She placed the toy on her dashboard. Mack had gone now, back to his own car. She smiled, shoved her keys into the ignition, and turned them, listening as the car hummed to life.

Before she could drive away, her phone buzzed. An unknown number.

"Are you free Saturday?"


End file.
